


your love is sunlight

by acezukos (purplefennels7)



Series: abby does fleet week 2k20 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, the dads visit sokka at uni and run around on the lakeshore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplefennels7/pseuds/acezukos
Summary: Sokka is running late to meet Bato and Hakoda when they come to visit him at university. The lakeshore proves to be a fine distraction in the meantime.or: bato does not want to run around on the rocks. unfortunately, he loves his husband too much to say no.
Relationships: Bato/Hakoda (Avatar)
Series: abby does fleet week 2k20 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851535
Comments: 39
Kudos: 161
Collections: Bakoda Fleet Week 2020





	your love is sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> hey there bakoda nation what's good??? as you can see i remain incapable of writing anything "short" so here is 2k of sunshine and lakeshore and hakoda being a child. shoutout to my uni upon which the lakeshore is based, i miss u.
> 
> title from "sunlight" by hozier

Bato loves his husband very much and would do anything for him on a given day. This is what he tells himself, multiple times under his breath and the sound of the radio, as they drive towards Sokka’s university on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

“Hakoda,” he says, taking one hand off the wheel of their minivan and putting it over his husband’s where he’s tapping his fingers frantically against the center console. “Calm down. I’m already driving ten miles above the speed limit.” 

“Yes, yes, I _know_ ,” Hakoda replies, flipping his hand over to tangle his fingers with Bato’s. “If we get stopped by the police for speeding, it’ll take even longer than if we didn’t speed,” he quotes dryly from what Bato had told him not ten minutes ago. Bato dares to take his eyes off the road for a split second to smile quietly over at him. 

“I know you just want to see Sokka, love, I do too. What’s that that Katara says?” Hakoda chuckles.

“We’re empty-nesters without an empty nest?” 

“Yeah, that. Although I think it applies more to you than to me - hey! Driving!” he yelps as Hakoda pushes him. “Gods. It’s going to be so much worse when Katara leaves, isn’t it?”

“Sorry. Also, nope, I’m never letting her leave home. Not on my watch.” 

“Don’t let her hear you say that.” 

They lapse into silence, Hakoda humming quietly along with the song on the radio and only letting go of Bato’s hand when he needs it to change lanes. They’re just turning onto the exit ramp into Sokka’s college town when Hakoda’s phone rings from the cupholder he’s stuck it in. 

“It’s Sokka,” he says. “Here, I’ll put him on speaker. Hello?” 

“Hey, dad,” Sokka’s voice comes as Hakoda reaches over to turn the radio down. 

“Yes?” they reply in unison, winking at each other at the running joke.

“I’m running a little late, I gotta finish up this project in the woodshop before my professor leaves so I won’t be able to meet you at 2, but I’m thinking just maybe 30 or 40 more minutes? Like, an hour at most. I’m really sorry about this, I thought I’d be done by now.” Bato practically sees Hakoda wilt. 

“Alright, son,” Bato says, because Hakoda looks a little bit like he’s incapable of forming words right now. “Do you still want to meet us by the lake?”

“Yeah, that works. By the bridge over to the south bit of campus, like last time. I’m sorry again, guys.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Hakoda breaks in, although he still looks downcast. “Focus on your project.”

“‘Kay, dad! See you guys soon,” Sokka says. They hear the clatter of something hitting the floor, a muffled swear word, and then the line goes dead. 

“Language,” Bato calls uselessly after him. 

“He’s in college,” Hakoda says, returning his phone to the cupholder.

“Hey, one of us has to be the strict dad, and it’s certainly not going to be you. That particular burden is for my shoulders to carry.” 

“Hey! Remember the thing about the dog?” Hakoda protests, glaring at him. “ _I_ didn’t want the dog, but _you_ told the kids they could - I was totally the strict dad.”

“Hakoda,” Bato says fondly, “you love that dog. It sleeps in our bed. I’m pretty sure you cuddle with it more than you do with me.” 

“Hey, if you want cuddles you just have to ask, that’s not on me.” He glances at the dashboard clock again and sighs. Bato reaches out and strokes his thumb over the back of his hand.

“It’ll just be a little bit, I’m sure we can find a way to spend an hour.” 

“We _haven’t_ had an hour out to ourselves in a while, have we?” Hakoda muses. Bato shakes his head absently, focusing more on navigating into the parking garage - Hakoda and Katara still haven’t let him live down the last, and he swears the only, time he’d gotten into an accident in a parking garage. In his own defense, the other person also hadn’t been looking while backing out. As they get out of the car - parked successfully, thank you very much - the sound of waves crashing against a shore reaches Bato’s ears, and they look at each other excitedly. 

“The lake!” they say together. Bato locks the car and loops his pinky finger with Hakoda’s as they head for the staircase, stopping on every landing to peer out the little windows at the lakefront down below. 

“Sokka made a good choice coming here,” Hakoda says decisively when they reach the ground floor and are hit in the face with a cheery spring breeze. “You could almost say...he laked it.” Bato presses his free hand to his face and lets out a long sigh, but where Hakoda can’t see it, he grins a little. 

“That was...not good. Out of all the lake puns you could’ve chosen, you went with _laked it?”_

“Okay, okay wait, what about this one. What did one wave say to the other?” 

“ _Sea_ you later,” Bato replies, straight-faced. Hakoda punches his shoulder. “Hakoda, it doesn’t work when I’ve heard the joke a thousand times. I wonder every day why Sokka got your sense of humour.”

“Whatever. I feel like my own husband should think my jokes are funny, hmm?” Bato leans down to drop a kiss on top of Hakoda’s head.

“Not when they’re bad, no. I have standards. Now come on, let’s go sit by the lake.” Hakoda looks like he wants to reply, but the rocky lakeshore comes into view over the top of the hill they’re walking on at the same time and the expression that breaks on his face looks like the sunrise.

Walking along the lakeshore, hands linked and letting the cool breeze off the water ruffle their hair, Bato thinks that neither of them will ever be able to truly leave the water behind. Not after a combined twenty years in the Navy between them and two childhoods spent on their fathers’ fishing boats. Something about the water breaking over the rocks and the cry of birds circling high above always makes Bato’s shoulders loosen and his heartbeat slow, and he and Hakoda have had too many discussions about retiring to a lake house once the kids have graduated; spend their days lying in the sunshine and listening to the waves. 

Or, Bato would, at least. If the water calms him, it has always had the opposite effect on Hakoda, who even on a normal day is far too energetic for his own good. He’d hoped Hakoda would’ve grown out of that habit by the time they were this age - to be entirely fair, when they’d been just kids living next door, they’d spent many a summer afternoon chasing each other around the lakeshore in their neighbourhood. That hadn’t really panned out properly, though, and Hakoda still goes giddy and bouncy the moment he catches a glimpse of a body of water. It practically melts the years off his face and reminds Bato of the kids hopped up on too much caffeine or sugar, and also inevitably results in him being dragged into doing something reckless and stupid that he’ll secretly enjoy but complain about the entire time.

He’s resolved, however, that they’re just going to have a nice walk and maybe sit on the grass and look at the sky and wait for Sokka to show up. He’s just about to turn to Hakoda and suggest that they sit down - Bato’s spring jacket is long and would make a perfect blanket - when Hakoda stops in the middle of the path, eyes trained on something in the distance. Bato squints in the same direction to see some students climbing on the rocks that lead down to the water, and oh - oh, _no._

“Absolutely not,” he says firmly, fixing his gaze on the horizon in order to avoid Hakoda’s eyes. 

“But-!”

“No. Can we just sit here and look at the lake? Sokka will be here in half an hour.” He raises his chin and looks at the sky as Hakoda very obviously stands on his tiptoes, trying to get him to meet his dumb pleading eyes. 

“Please? Come _on,_ I know you love this sort of thing.” Bato tries a different tactic, shrugging his jacket off and backing away off the path to plant himself in the grass and stare straight ahead. 

“Here, can we compromise? I can sit here and look at the lake, and _you_ can go climb around on the rocks. Sound good?” He realizes his own mistake when Hakoda, now taller by virtue of him being seated, looks down at him and pouts. 

“Please?” Bato holds out for a personal record of about thirty seconds before he groans and sticks out a hand for Hakoda to haul him to his feet. “Yes! Thank you, I love you.”

“You’re such a child, Koda. You’re lucky I love you.” 

“Come on, you love that about me.” He leans in to knock his head against Bato’s shoulder, and Bato drops his chin into his hair and grins while Hakoda can’t see him.

“Alright, come on. Let’s go climb on the rocks.” 

And so they go, holding hands to steady each other as they scramble down to the edge of the water. Bato’s coat flies out behind him as Hakoda pulls him along, laughing like they’re eighteen and tipsy on life and a little bit of vodka again. He thinks of every time he’d looked at Hakoda in the sunlight and thought he was beautiful, even long before he’d known they’d be forever, and decides that if they’re going to run around on the rocks, then they’re _really_ going to run around on the rocks, age and danger and silliness all be damned. 

The last rock between them and the waves is a little further out than the rest, one edge slippery with water, but they’ve done things like this before, and one look at Hakoda tells him they’re thinking of the same thing. Bato backs up a few paces and then takes a running leap, sticking the landing on the dry half of the rock and then holding his arms out, anchoring his feet on the flattest sections of the surface. He catches Hakoda tight against his chest, stepping back with the rest of his momentum and then setting Hakoda on his feet. 

“Aren’t you glad you did this?” Hakoda asks smugly, toeing off his shoes and socks and plopping down on the side of the rock to dangle his feet in the water. Bato sighs, but Hakoda’s enthusiasm is contagious, and he finds that he really is.

“Yes, I am.” He sits down next to Hakoda and tucks his legs under him, hooking his chin over his shoulder and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You know, I was thinking about when we used to do stuff like this when we were younger. Remember the time we snuck out but then you fell into the pond and we got caught because you couldn’t explain to your mom why all your clothes were wet in the morning?”

“Excuse me, I remember that being that you _pushed_ me into the pond, which was very rude of you, and then my mom grounded me for a week, so thanks for that.” Bato breaks out into astonished laughter.

“Koda, that was...nearly thirty years ago? Gods, when did we get so old? How do you still remember that?”

“Ah-hah, so you _do_ admit to pushing me! I knew it! Also, I plan to be young forever.” 

“Maybe I’ll push you again, then. See if you like it a second time,” Bato teases, moving away and shoving playfully at Hakoda’s shoulder. Hakoda yelps and yanks his feet back out of the water, stuffing them back into his shoes without putting his socks back on and jumping to his feet.

“Not if you can’t catch me first!” He jumps back over to the other rock, and Bato experiences a moment of pure fear when he barely makes it over, but before he’s scrambled entirely upright Hakoda is sprinting off across the rest of the rocks, and there’s really nothing left but to let out a shout and run after him.

Finally, Hakoda dashes back up the side of the hill and collapses on the grass, breathing hard but beaming like sunshine. Bato seats himself slightly more gracefully next to him and pushes his jacket off again, maneuvering it under him and tugging at Hakoda’s shoulders until he rolls over to put his head in Bato’s lap, nudging his hand in the way he does when he wants his hair petted. Bato obligingly slides his fingers into his messy ponytail, working the tie loose and beginning to braid along the edges of his undercut. 

“You’re pretty,” he says absentmindedly, stroking a finger over the ridge of Hakoda’s high cheekbones and watching his mouth curve softly. 

“Speak for yourself, gorgeous,” Hakoda replies, reaching up to tap Bato on the nose.

“You’re such a sap today,” he grumbles, feeling a blush heating his cheeks as he finishes off the braid on the right side and switches over to the left. 

“It’s been ages since we’ve done something like this, lemme indulge myself.” 

“If you must.” Soon enough, Bato finishes the second braid and taps Hakoda’s wrist for a hairtie, knotting the two braids together and redoing the ponytail to sit snugly against his head, brushing his fingers through the shorter sides. Sokka finds them like that several minutes later, Hakoda practically purring under Bato’s fingers, spread out in the grass like he’s trying to photosynthesize.

“Dads,” he groans from several feet away, hiding his face behind his hands. “In public? Really?” Hakoda sits up, dislodging Bato’s hands, and grins at Sokka. 

“We’re just e-lake-ted to see you,” he snickers. Sokka stands there for a moment, clearly processing, and then breaks out laughing. Bato facepalms.

“Hakoda, what did I say about the lake puns?!” 

“I thought it was funny,” Sokka says. 

“I get no respect in this house.” He rolls his eyes but gets to his feet, joining Hakoda in smothering Sokka in a hug. 

“It’s good to see you, Sokka,” Hakoda says, squeezing both of them tight.

“Please keep him?” Bato says as they pull away, Sokka beaming up at the both of them - and he’s gotten taller, somehow, in the past months; he’s almost as tall as Hakoda now. Bato can’t wait to see if he ends up taller than him. “I can’t stand these lake puns anymore. In fact, you could say I’m all pond out.” Hakoda’s mouth falls open before he’s able to clap a hand over it, but Bato can still see his eyes crinkling at the corners.

 _“Punned out!”_ Sokka wheezes. “Good one, dad.” 

“Alright, I’ll admit it,” Hakoda says. “That one was good.” Bato grins, slinging his arm over Sokka’s shoulders. Hakoda mimics his action on Sokka’s other side.

“I missed you guys,” Sokka says, still chuckling. Bato shares a look with Hakoda over the top of his head.

“So did we, Sokka. So did we.”

**Author's Note:**

> written for day 1 of [bakoda fleet week](https://bakodafleetweek.tumblr.com) for the _modern au_ prompt. i hope u enjoyed this plotless fluff there is more where it came from <3 would die for comments/kudos/for yall to check out the rest of fleet week !!
> 
> hmu on [tumblr](https://acezukos.tumblr.com)


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